WASHINGTON — The cost of living in the U.S. was little changed in February, showing inflation is making scant progress toward the Federal Reserve’s goal ahead of the policy makers’ meeting this week. The consumer-price index increased 0.1 percent, matching the advance in January and in line with the median forecast of 85 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, a Labor Department report showed Tuesday in Washington. Excluding volatile food and fuel, the so-called core measure also climbed 0.1 percent from January and was up 1.6 percent over the past 12 months, the same as in the previous month.

Companies are keeping prices low to try to boost sales as unusually harsh weather has kept customers from venturing out to stores.

“Firms are reluctant to raise prices, given that demand is still not where we want it to be,” said Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group Inc., who correctly projected the 0.1 percent rise in inflation.

Another report showed housing starts were little changed in February after declining less than previously estimated a month earlier, indicating the homebuilding industry is stabilizing after harsh weather curbed construction.

Casey Neistat admits that the logistics of running a business isn’t his speciality. Instead, he shared with Denver Startup Week audiences how he went from high school dropout to an HBO show, a New York Times partnership and later, an app that got started while on a fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Twitter is defending its decision not to remove a controversial tweet by President Donald Trump on Saturday that targeted North Korea, in a six-tweet response to critics who argued that Trump violated the platform’s rules.